The Twilight Twenty-Five: Round Nine
by Mikarin Aoi
Summary: A rose isn't a rose without its thorns. One cannot be perfect without imperfection. Twenty-five stories written for Round 9 of The Twilight Twenty-Five Challenge. UNFINISHED.
1. Unspoken Truth

The Twilight Twenty-Five: Round Nine, a challenge

ByMikarin Aoi

**Summary:** A rose isn't a rose without its thorns. One cannot be perfect without imperfection. Twenty-five stories written for Round 9 of The Twilight Twenty-Five Challenge.

**Warning:** Varying ratings for each piece **Genre:** Drama/Romance/Angst/Hurt/Comfort **Pairing:** Various pairings

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the Twilight Saga or its characters.

**Author's Note:** For Round Nine, we were asked to settle for one Twilight character who would be the central subject of each of our 25 stories, which shouldn't relate, in any way, to one another. I chose Rosalie, for her personality is closest to my own.

Pieces can be either 100 words exactly, 300-500 words, or 1000 plus words. Okay, the first prompt is 'Ancient,' and to tell you guys the truth, this one's quite depressing. Skip it if you don't wanna feel your soul withering away like a dying flower.

**~Aoi.**

The Twilight Twenty-Five  
>thetwilight25 dot com<p>

Prompt: #1 – Ancient  
>Main Character: Rosalie<br>Rating: M  
>Word Count: 1704<p>

**Unspoken Truth**

Nothing. Once again, empty. Frozen. Still. Lifeless. Never moving forward. Stuck.

How long have I been alive? How long has it been? Since when have I been feeling this way? Hopeless. Nothing to look forward to.

After my niece finally reached her "adulthood," got married to Jacob and had their children who were either half-vampire and half-human or half-wolf and half-human, there was not much in my life anymore to be excited about. Sick and tired of having to repeat school all over again, I stayed at home while my siblings continued to uphold this charade.

Dragging along with time, I fell into a routine of endless days and infinite nights.

"Rose?"

Upon hearing his voice, I shut my eyes and swallowed. Another question of "Are you all right?" will make me want to throw the vanity mirror out through the balcony.

"Love…"

I knew he was hesitant. I haven't been myself for months. I was in a state of relaxed boredom, but at the same time, in restless unrest. My world became a whole cycle of contradictions.

"Rose, baby, please…"

I knew I was hurting him by this treatment of silence, but I couldn't dare to bring myself to speak, for I knew the words that would come out of my mouth would just hurt him all the more.

He couldn't understand what was happening to me, what was changing within me. How could he, when even I couldn't understand what I was going through? This feeling of senselessness, this feeling of hollowness I was carrying within me was slowly starting to eat away at my consciousness.

From my medical studies, I knew the medical word for it, but it just seemed implausible to think of. Could vampires actually feel this way?

"_Rosalie, you already know what I'm going to say… You yourself came to me with that in mind."_

"_So I really am… depressed?"_

_I blinked in slight surprise, but even that fact couldn't invoke a strong emotion out of me. Everything in my life was plain mediocre and just… there. It just was. I made no big deal out of anything anymore._

"_Carlisle, it just seems ludicrous."_

"_Kitty, you're displaying all the symptoms a human being would. You haven't even hunted for over a week."_

"_I just… no longer see the reason to it."_

"_Don't you feel thirsty at all?"_

_I paused to think it through. Sure, I could feel the back of my throat burning, but there no longer was a hurried need or urge to quell that necessity._

"_No…"_

"_Now that's a lie, Rosalie."_

"_I just don't feel like hunting…"_

I wanted to cry. But being this cursed creature, I couldn't. My frustration at this fact showed as I kept thrashing our room almost every day. My family was worried, I knew. But I couldn't care less.

"Babe…"

He was inching closer to where I was standing, right beside the door to the balcony, looking out past the tree tops of the woods. This was how I spent my days. Just staring blankly at nothing. Waiting for nothing in particular. Desperate to escape, somehow. Wanting to leave everything behind. I just never did. For the futile expectation that something would change. But I was so tired of waiting already.

Days passed, weeks, months. It's almost been a year since I've fallen into this zombie-like state.

I knew I was hurting him the most, but it's not like I intended any of this.

At first, every time I felt down, whenever he'd approach me, I'd smile for him. But I couldn't keep doing so to the whole family after a month. I grew sick and tired of the pretense. Everyone knew how I was feeling, but none of them really understood. They were all still so content with life.

Esme would never find anything wrong with life, she never complained. Carlisle would never be dissatisfied for he had a job that enabled him to help humans. After all this years, he still was repenting for what he was.

Alice and Jasper until now were still in their own world, where happiness never escaped them, for having found each other was the best thing to cure their oppression – Jasper from Maria's dominance; Alice from her parents and the townspeople – during their younger years.

Edward and Bella, still as in love as before, were still enjoying the life of sex that they both never experienced during their human years. And there was always joyful news for them every time Renesmee would announce that she's pregnant yet again.

My Emmett always found a way to have fun. It was part of who he was. And so, living was a gift to him, for every day presented an opportunity to have fun.

As for me… Even though I had Emmett, he was still just half of my happiness. Every child my niece brought into the world kept reinforcing the one truth I hated to admit to myself.

My longing, my frustration… Too painful to bear. Too painful to talk about.

Everyone asked what I was thinking, but I couldn't speak. I had so many thoughts, and yet, my brain felt like it was blank. Empty.

As empty as my womb would ever be…

I wanted to run until I couldn't any longer, wanted to fall off a cliff, stab myself, set myself on fire. I wanted to just feel something. For nothing was left in me. Nothing. Complete desolation inside of me.

Time passed by so slowly, and at times, when I'd stare at the grandfather clock in the hallway, it would mock me by taking forever to finish a minute.

I was desperate for a change, for something new, something different.

Emmett and I had just recently married again, but even that lost its appeal to me, though I never said it aloud to my husband…

Sex was still amazing. He could fuck me the entire night and we even went so far as doing it the entire day. But after the wave of pleasure, the shadow of darkness would envelop me in its entrapping veil of sorrow.

I'd hide and shrivel, turning away from the arms of my husband, turning to my own cold arms that held nothing but pity for my wretched state of utter melancholy.

"Rosalie…" His voice was pleading, imploring, begging.

_I am so sorry, Emmett…_

Lifting my hands up, I covered my face, too ashamed for making him go through this hell, too ashamed to make him see me this way… pathetic.

His steps were so quiet, almost gentle. I could hear him coming closer still, until finally, I felt his arms around me. Every time he gifted me his embrace, I felt like a child. Sobbing dry tears, I leant my head against his shoulder and reveled in his scent. The scent I would so miss…

Minutes that took forever to end were wasted away as I wallowed in my misery. My husband's strong hands gave me comfort, but didn't wash away the feeling of despondency that was clinging onto me.

After a while, I finally spoke. "I think I should stay for a while at Isle Esme…"

I could feel relief flooding through my husband's body as he released tension from it by exhaling at the sound of my voice.

"You don't want me to come with you?"

"Mm-mm, I need some time to myself… Time to think… without anyone around me…"

"Well, love, whenever you need me, just call. I'll be there in a minute."

"I know you will, Emmett…"

As a farewell, I told him those three words that suddenly became so hard to say.

"I love you…"

~o~

I already knew my final destination wasn't Isle Esme at all, but I kept my thoughts focused on the island, for fear of Alice keeping track of my plans.

As soon as I got to the house at Isle Esme, I wrote the letters while keeping my thoughts on swimming, exploring the forest, taking a hike – to keep Alice from worrying. I knew she'd be keeping Emmett on the loop as to what I would be doing.

Hurrying, I rushed away from the island and changed my thoughts to traveling. I spent several days in Spain, about three days in England, until I finally arrived in Italy. Hopefully Alice wasn't making a connection yet as to what my real plans were.

~o~

"It seems we have a visitor…" Caius' cold, heartless voice glimmered with excitement at the sight of me with Demitri and Felix by my side.

"Ah, the beauty of the Cullen clan!" Aro exclaimed with delight. "It is a pleasure to be graced with your presence. What can we help you with today?"

Without hesitating, for I had no time to waste, I answered swiftly, "I wish for my end."

At that, Marcus gave me a glance, and from the corner of his lips, I could almost see a smile forming there. Not an evil smirk, but a smile that almost seemed like he understood my intentions and my reasons. Why wouldn't he? He also longed for what I was seeking, after all…

"Ah, my dear… What would the Cullens say?"

"They have nothing to say about this. This is my decision."

~o~

[**Emmett]**

"Emmett!"

I knew from that shrillness in her voice that Alice had just seen something I knew would not be good news.

"Go to the Volturi! NOW!"

That – I didn't expect. Anything but that.

Dropping everything, I went past her, knowing the whole family would be on my tails soon enough.

_Why, Rosalie? Why would you want to leave? Why would you want to leave me?_

~o~

_Goodbye, Emmett… My love, my life… My half…_

~o~

I was only half-way there, when I felt a part of me die. I knew, at that moment, that I had lost her. I abruptly stopped in my tracks, as I lost the feeling of the energy of her life. I felt the whole world shift. The air changed. The sun shone less. The sky darkened. Something was different. And from then on, my life would be different.

I was alone. She had left me… all alone.

My mate… for eternity… was now gone from my life… forever.

~_**fin**_~


	2. Breakfast

**Author's Note:** In the first prompt, my depression was talking. It's also why I started so late with working on the prompts. My low mood plus college equals almost no time to write. I might not be able to finish this round. Oh well. This story came easily to me. I've been fighting with my OCD too, for I didn't want this prompt, which is 24th on the list, to be the second chapter, but I wanted to upload it already. So here goes. This story is more for family.

**~Aoi.**

The Twilight Twenty-Five  
>thetwilight25 dot com<p>

Prompt: #24 – Waffle  
>Main Character: Rosalie<br>Rating: K  
>Word Count: 1148<p>

**Breakfast**

"Momma! Waffles! Waffles!"

The caramel-haired woman turned around to see her three-year-old daughter walking in hurried clumsy baby steps towards where she was standing, in front of the stove, already cooking the waffles her daughter was seeking. Laughing at the precious little sight, Esme bent down to kiss her daughter's cheek, then told her baby girl, "It's almost done, honey. Go wake your daddy."

"Dadda!"

Turning away from her mother, the little girl wobbled out of the kitchen. Not long after, Esme heard her daughter's giggles.

"Our daughter is extremely happy this morning," Esme heard her husband say, and she turned to see him standing by the doorway to the kitchen, their baby Rosalie protected in his arms.

"Yes. The very first word she uttered this morning was 'waffles'," Esme commented, laughingly.

Her husband Carlisle laughed along with his beloved wife. He went up to where she stood and kissed the side of her nape. "Good morning, love. You look absolutely gorgeous, darling."

Esme let out a light chuckle before saying, "Good morning to you too, Carlisle."

"Waffles!"

Their daughter caught their attention, to which Carlisle responded with tickles upon his daughter. Baby Rosalie's laughter rang in the kitchen, brightening the room even more that was graced with the morning sunlight streaming in through the windows.

Their baby girl always gave off her warmth any day and it was clear that she was the life of their marriage.

"I wonder why she loves waffles so much," Carlisle said aloud during breakfast, looking at his daughter take her pink plastic fork, getting another pre-cut piece of waffle then opening her mouth to eat it. He smiled lovingly at the sight of his independent daughter.

"Well, all kids have a favorite food. Mine was strawberry," Esme answered in reply, to which her husband eyed her curiously. "Strawberry?"

"Mhmm. My mother used to have it with milk all the time. I grew accustomed to having strawberries everywhere in the house, and I came to love it, just as my mother loved it."

Carlisle loved listening to his wife speak, and the knowledge that even after all the years they've been together, there was still precious little information like this one about his wife that he never knew, secretly amused him.

He was smiling as he imagined his wife as a little girl with her hair in pigtails, walking around the house with a strawberry in hand, on the way to the kitchen to get more of the luscious succulent fruit.

It was only when his wife spoke up that he shook his endearing imagination out of his head. "What was your favorite food when you were little?"

After a few seconds of trying to remember, he answered plainly, "Chips."

At that, his wife burst out into fits of laughter. Amused at seeing his wife enjoy this revelation, he then asked her, "What's so funny about that?"

"I can't believe that you were eating so unhealthily as a child! Your parents were both doctors!" Esme commented, still laughing all the while.

"Well, my mother loved spoiling me. Father was quite a health nut. So every once in a while, Mother would let me have ice cream, chips, every kind of junk food you could think of," Carlisle explained, quite entertained with himself and his memories.

"Momma! Dadda!"

Both Carlisle and Esme looked at their daughter as she held out her emptied pink plastic plate towards them and said, "Waffles!"

Carlisle looked over at his wife and reached for her hand across the table. Sensing he wanted her hand, Esme slid it over to him, and as he took it, he gave it a kiss before then uttering, "You gave us such a beautiful daughter, love. Have I thanked you for giving us this most precious gift?"

Esme's heart fluttered with the overwhelming love she felt for her husband, before whispering the words of her same appreciation, "You made her possible, too, so thank you, too, Carlisle…"

"I love you, Esme."

"I love you, too, Carlisle…"

~o~

Amazed at myself for remembering that, especially since I was just three, I chuckled at the memory.

"Mommy!"

I turned around to the voice of my four-year-old daughter, who then said, "Waffles!"

Though baffled at the sudden déjà vu that was happening, I couldn't help but smile. "It's almost done, honey. Go wake your daddy."

"Daddy!"

"I hear my little girl calling for me…"

Just then, I heard my husband make fake monstrous sounds, knowing he'd be sweeping our daughter into his arms soon to tickle her. And as soon as I thought it, I heard our daughter's bouts of laughter. I smiled to myself. I was so thankful to have Emmett… So much like my own father the way he treats our daughter…

"What was your favorite food as a child?" I then asked my husband as we sat around the dining table, eating our breakfast that peaceful morning.

"Carrots."

Blinking in surprise, I erupted in my own bouts of laughter. "That doesn't seem like you at all! You barely eat vegetables nowadays!"

"Yeah, well, my mother was a health nut. She forbade me from eating junk food, so now, I eat everything but vegetables," Emmett explained with a sour face. I couldn't stop laughing.

"What was yours?" he then asked me.

"What we're having for breakfast right now," I answered with a smile.

"Waffles?"

I nodded. My husband smiled upon learning that, and then turned to our baby girl who was busily chewing on her waffles. "How about you, little one? What do you love to eat?"

"Ice cream!"

We both chuckled at that, and then continued to eat in the blissful contentment of the day.

As my husband brought our daughter to her playroom, I began clearing the table, and as I stood in front of the sink, washing the plates, I felt his lips upon the side of my nape.

"I wasn't able to say good morning to my wife," he then whispered as he planted a kiss on the other side of my nape.

I chuckled, amused at the repeated kisses that went back and forth, and finally turned around in his embrace, my arms winding around his neck, making sure my soapy hands weren't touching his shirt.

"Good morning, my love."

"Good morning, Emmett…"

I was so thankful. So, so grateful for this life I always knew I wanted. Ever since that day when I was three years old, seeing my parents with so much love for each other and for me.

"Thank you, Rosalie."

Pulling away to see his face, I then asked, "Whatever for?"

"For giving us both the most valuable treasure anyone could ever long for."

On the verge of tearing up, I held my husband closer to me; my head buried in his shoulder, as I then whispered, "I love you, Emmett."

"And I love you, Rosalie."

~_**fin**_~


End file.
